Amnesty key to better lives, opportunities for ex-rebels

OFFICE OF the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity (OPAPRU) Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Wednesday emphasized the importance of granting amnesty to members of revolutionary groups who have committed crimes in pursuit of their political beliefs.

MNLF denies Nur endorsed Pacquiao

MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari. (MNLF Facebook page)

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Moro National Liberation Front, whose chieftain Nur Misuari signed a peace deal with the government in September 1996, has denied endorsing presidential aspirant Senator Manny Pacquaio.

MILF expands territories

COTABATO CITY - The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which signed a peace deal with the government in March 2014, continues to expand its territories in the South, sparking occasional clashes with patrolling government forces in the restive region.

Taliban return may revitalize SEA terrorist groups

THE TALIBAN'S takeover of Afghanistan was swift and thorough. The U.S. government’s $83 billion project of state-building failed spectacularly. And the U.S. military’s provision of $6 billion a year in security assistance proved meaningless, as Afghan security forces simply evaporated in the face of Taliban offensives, surrendering without a fight.

BARMM Chief Minister opposes Anti-Terror Bill

COTABATO CITY – A former Muslim rebel chieftain-turned-politician has expressed strong opposition over the Anti-Terrorism Bill and urged President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the proposed law.

MSU professor itinumba!

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Murad Ebrahim, tikom ang bibig!

‘Mga armadong MILF 

naharang sa Bukidnon’

SA KABILA ng peace agreement ng pamahalaan sa Moro Islamic Liberation Front, patuloy pa rin ang paglabag ng dating rebeldeng grupo sa batas at mistulang bandido pa rin ang ilang mga miyembro nito.

Misuari is officially Special Envoy to OIC

FORMER LIBYAN firebrand Nur Misuari’s name is officially included in the list of new presidential appointees after Filipino leader Rodrigo Duterte named the chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front as the country’s Special Envoy to the influential Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Manila released the list recently along with the names of other officials now holding various government positions. Duterte first announced his choice of Misuari in December. 

BARMM Murad’s followers facing murder charges killed in clash with cops

COTABATO CITY – Police forces killed 3 followers of Minister Murad Ebrahim of the Muslim autonomous region in a firefight Thursday in Lanao del Sur province that also wounded 6 people, the military’s Western Mindanao Command said.

It said the policemen were sent to arrest members of Ebrahim’s Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebel group who were accused of murder when attacked by gunmen in Madamba town.

More rebels engaged the police forces in a gun battle in the villages of Tabaran and Illian. Four policemen and two civilians were wounded in the clashes, the Western Mindanao Command said.

“Three MILF elements with warrants of arrest for murder were slain during the law enforcement operations conducted by the Philippine National Police in the villages of Illian and Tabaran, all in Madamba in Lanao del Sur at 10 a.m. today. The PNP troops were to serve warrants of arrest when they engaged in a firefight with MILF elements led by a certain Abu Hanif.”

“Four PNP personnel and two civilians were wounded in the encounter, based on information received from army units in the area. They are now recuperating in the hospital,” the military said.

Ebrahim’s group signed an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014 and the rebel leader became the chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao following a plebiscite early this year. He did not release and statement on the killing of the 3 rebels. (Mindanao Examiner)

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Singaporean terrorist, among 2 dozen militants killed in South

COTABATO CITY – The Philippine military on Wednesday claimed to have killed nearly 2 dozen Filipino pro-ISIS militants, including a Singaporean terrorist, in massive air and land assaults on a remote hideout in the Muslim province of Maguindanao.

The 6^th Infantry Division said the campaign, which began March 11, was aimed at destroying a huge group of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, whose leaders have pledged allegiance to ISIS.

It said as many as 20 militants under Abu Turaife were slain in the assaults in Shariff Saydona town, and among those killed was Muhammad Ali Bin Abd Al Rahman or Muawiya, a notorious jihadist belonging to the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiya and had been a bomb trainer for the Abu Sayyaf group.

The reports were based on intelligence information, but army commanders claimed to have seen or recovered pieces of body parts of those killed in an area targeted by military bombardments.

Over 100 militants were being pursued by security forces in the province which is also a stronghold of the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that signed an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014.

The clashes also killed one soldier and wounded at least 7 more.

The military’s Joint Task Force Central (JTFC) said air, artillery and ground operation were continuing not only in Shariff Saydona, but also in the towns of Datu Salibo, Mamasapano and Shariff Aguak where the group of pro-ISIS militant commander Salahudin Hassan was scattered.

“JTFC launched a surgical air and artillery mission to clearly identify and confirmed targets that complemented a focused ground operations against the Daesh-inspired terrorist group at dawn of March 11. The operation was initiated after a concerned citizen relayed information regarding the consolidation of the fully armed terrorist group in the specific area,” it said.

It added that local residents also reported to the authorities that terrorists had forcibly occupied their houses since last month that pushed them to live because of fear and sorrow.

The task force revealed that former BIFF members who surrendered to the military had provided intelligence that allowed security forces to track down the locations or hideouts of militants in the province.

“Former BIFF rebels who surrendered to JTFC also supported the information being relayed to locate the specific locations of the terror group.  Follow on operations ensured that the terrorists were confined in the area and prevented the spill over as our troops were deployed in the strategic areas,” it said, adding, the military also coordinated with the MILF to prevent any accidental clashes while troops were pursuing the BIFF in the towns.

Philippine authorities have blamed the BIFF for the series of terror attacks in the restive southern region. (Mindanao Examiner)

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10 pro-ISIS militants yield in Southern Philippines

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Fighting erupted ahead of Bangsamoro plebiscite

COTABATO CITY – Patrolling soldiers clashed Tuesday with pro-ISIS fighters in the town of Shariff Saydona Mustapha in the restive Muslim province of Maguindanao in southern Philippines, officials said.

The fighting erupted ahead of a schedule homeland plebiscite in the region, but officials said there was no immediate report of casualties on the side of the militants, who were members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters or BIFF.

The clash erupted in Inaladan village where civilians tipped off the military on the presence of gunmen carrying improvised explosives.

 
A military photo released to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner shows the recovered improvised explosive and rifles from the dreaded BIFF militants following a clash January 15, 2019 in the southern Maguindanao province. 

There were no military casualties and the 6^th Infantry Division said soldiers from the 40^th Infantry Battalion under Lt. Col. Edgar Catu recovered one improvised explosive, three M14 rifles and one AR18 rifle from the encounter site.

The military has blamed the BIFF for the spate of attacks against security forces and bombings of civilian targets in the Muslim autonomous region. The militant group is also being linked to the deadly New Year’s Eve bombing outside the South Seas Mall in Cotabato City that left dozens of casualties.

BIFF leaders pledged allegiance with ISIS and vowed to fight the Filipino government for the establishment of a strict caliphate in the region composed of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao - the most violent province in the area and stronghold of various pro-ISIS groups.

Muslims are to decide whether to approve the proposed expansion of the moderate Muslim region that would be called Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and ruled by Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels whose group signed an interim peace deal with Manila in 2014. (Mindanao Examiner)

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OPINION: BOL unconstitutional? By Macabangkit B. Lanto

THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT in Morolandia was rocked by a minor tremor. Its intensity reverberated from the shores of the Sulu Sea to the cramped evacuation shelters of Marawi City. One of its respected leaders questioned the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), a measure long marketed as the sum total of the decades-old aspirations of Moros before the Supreme Court (SC).

Abdusakur Tan II is one of the few Moro leaders held in high regard by his peers. His staying political dynastic power is a testament to a peculiar genre of leadership style reminiscent of obeisance accorded to a sultan. His popularity cuts across tribal differences. In fact, he almost scored an upset over the administration-anointed candidate for regional governor if not for the strong and well-oiled (translation: party fund) machinery of the immediate past administration.

Our friendship goes decades back and has weathered tribal differences and shifting party affiliation. He is one of the few principled Moro leaders I know who is uncompromising and puts his heart and mind on the principles he believes in.

His petition could hardly be understood by people who do not know him, especially those who are pro-BOL who see the measure as a way of freedom from the morass of political and social ails. It came on the heels of the announcement by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that it will launch an information campaign in the run-up to the January plebiscite-ratification of the newly minted BOL. Not that they did not expect somebody filing it in the SC but to come from a Moro leader who commands their respect befuddles them. Not a few call him a spoiler which he is not.
I was not the least surprised that he filed the petition. He is every inch the man I know and understand where he is coming from. He is just being honest and consistent, having opposed strongly the same measure way back when it was first filed and relentlessly pushed by the past administration not unlike what President Digong is doing now.

Moros fear that Sakur is unwittingly playing into the hands of retrogressive oppositors and unrepentant bigots.

Ambassador Rafael Seguis, a fellow Mindanaoan, asked me about my take on the issue. I said I have figuratively burned the midnight oil meticulously subjecting the law to a surgeon-like diagnostic scalpel, studying and researching its constitutionality and almost tempted to discuss my position. However, lest I will be cited for contempt, I will shy away from discussing it, being a sub judice issue now that it is before the SC.

Political theorists view the Constitution as a living instrument and sometimes by the imperatives of zeitgeist has to yield to the sway and vicissitudes of time and space. It is not an instrument engraved in granite that is immutable. Being conceived as an aid in the preservation and well-being of society, it must not stymie the search for peace, else it will forfeit its raison d’être.

For whatever reason, other than legal, the petition by the patriarch of the Tan political dynasty betrays the deep internecine fractiousness of the Moros. The major tribes claim Maharlika blood in their veins and one cannot stand being subservient to another. The Maranao, Maguindanaoan and Tausug, being proud elite tribes of nobility, disagreement among them is sometimes unavoidable. The petition speaks volume of these tribal differences, peace be damned. And the Tausugs have served notice that they will exercise the “opt-out” privilege granted by the BOL which will exclude them from the coverage of the new Bangsamoro region.

In one fell swoop the Sakur petition has shattered the fragile détente that the Digong presidency has been working on between and among the Moro leaders hoping for a united support for the ratification of the BOL. The Sakur petition while subtly wrapped as a constitutional test, unmasked the hard truth that not all is well among its target beneficiaries, the Moros.

This poses a challenge to the MILF which is the prime mover and favored beneficiary of the law. They must factor the likes of Sakur in their blueprint preparation for ratification campaign. It’s a wake-up call that the gauntlet towards ratification is strewn with hazards and hurdles.

But it is a sad spectacle to see brother Moros fight over something many consider as the Holy Grail that they hope will pave the way for substantive self-rule, if not merdeka. (This opinion piece is published on The Daily Tribune.)


Link: http://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2018/11/11/bol-unconstitutional/?fbclid=IwAR3cihiRZLk4qr4BDXXNpcLbOJujZ3z9SogPkBtB4mq9Z8sYYefY7y5QM4g

Bangsamoro Organic Law challenged in Supreme Court

‘Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi want to stay in Region 9’

MUSLIMS IN BASILAN, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, including Lanao del Sur are opposed to future rule by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to the proposed Bangsamoro autonomous region.

A referendum has been set for next year for residents of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao - which comprises Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao - to ratify the Bangsamoro Organic Law that will govern the new region.

Residents of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi who are from Tausug, Yakan and Sama tribes wanted to be part of Region 9 in Western Mindanao, and not be included in the Bangsamoro autonomous region.

MILF leaders -who are mostly from Maguindanao tribe - are mulling to govern the proposed region with rebel chieftain Murad Ebrahim as regional governor, and senior rebel leaders to hold key position in the Bangsamoro autonomous government. Even in Wao town in Lanao del Sur, residents had strongly opposed the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

Supreme Court

Just recently, The Manila Times reported that Sulu province, through Gov. Toto Tan, filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition with the Supreme Court to review the legality and constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law which was signed (RA 11054) in July by President Rodrigo Duterte. The proposed law is the result of peace negotiations between the Filipino government and MILF rebels.

It said lawyer Sixto Brillantes is representing Tan. The report said the respondents in the 48-page petition were Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Interior and Local Government Officer-in-Charge Eduardo Año, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza and the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, and the MILF.

Tan claimed that Congress committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law. He said the Bangsamoro Organic Law violates Section 18 and 19 of Article X of the 1987 Constitution which authorized the enactment of only one Organic Act to establish the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“Since ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) is created by Constitutional fiat, Congress, by itself, has absolutely no authority to abolish ARMM. Only through an amendment of the Constitution may ARMM be abolished. This is so, because only the Constitution may create or abolish an autonomous region,” Tan said.

“Accordingly, when Congress, by enacting RA 11054, effectively abolished ARMM, and established BAR (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region) in its stead, Congress committed an unconstitutional act, an unwarranted infringement of Article X of the Constitution,” he added.

The Manila Times reported that petitioner stressed that establishing a parliamentary form of government in the Bangsamoro autonomous region violates the doctrine of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

“The same provision of Bangsamoro Organic Law, also violate Section 18, Article X of the Constitution requiring that the Organic Act of an Autonomous Region shall, among others, define the basic structure of government for the region consisting of the executive department and legislative assembly, both of which shall be elective and representative of the constituent political units,” Tan pointed out.

Tan said the automatic inclusion of the ARMM in the newly created Bangsamoro Region “and the provision that the provinces and cities of the ARMM shall vote as one geographical area are likewise unconstitutional.”

“The provisions under Section 2(a) , Article III on Territorial Jurisdiction and Article XV of RA 11054 on the conduct of the plebiscite do not afford the constituents of the Province of Sulu, to the prejudice of their right to suffrage and their right to local autonomy, the option to vote to join or not to join the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region,” the governor added.

Tan asked the high court to stop the Executive Department from implementing the Bangsamoro law. He also urged the tribunal to issue a Writ of Prohibition to bar the Commission on Elections from proceeding with the scheduled plebiscite in January.

Under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, the Bangsamoro region will be composed of the ARMM, six municipalities of Lanao del Norte and 39 villages of Cotabato, and the chartered cities of Isabela and Cotabato subject to the approval of voters.

The region will be headed by a chief minister and two deputy ministers. The parliament will be composed of political party representatives, parliamentary district representatives, sectoral representatives and indigenous tribes and settler communities.

All parliament members will have a term of three years and can enjoy a maximum of three consecutive terms. The parliament can enact its own laws. The Bangsamoro Organic Law also allows 75-25 wealth sharing between the Bangsamoro autonomous region and national government.

The Supreme Court has already directed the government to comment on the petition filed.

MILF says

“We recognize that it is within the rights of Governor Tan to file this petition. However, it is also within our preview to challenge his motivation, hoping that altruistic reasons drove him rather than prolonging a political career.  The BOL is more than a piece of legislation. It is a product of the 17 years of difficult peace negotiations and four years of arduous drafting and consultation process with a variety of stakeholders in the Bangsamoro as well as eminent constitutionalists and legal experts.”

“The BOL hopes to fulfill the Bangsamoro’s right to self-determination, address the historical grievances of the Bangsamoro people and introduce necessary reforms to promote good governance and improve the delivery of services in a region gravely affected by decades-long conflict. The BOL, compared to RA 9054 and RA 6734, has provisions that will grant the Bangsamoro people, including the Sulu province, the opportunity to chart their political, economic and social future. Surely, the Sulu governor can see value in that?”

“We can only hope that the honorable men and women of the High Court would see that the BOL will help reinforce and strengthen the political and legal foundation of just and lasting peace in the region. Moreover, it was deliberated upon and approved by the Congress’ best legal minds who are also confident that the BOL can stand the test of constitutionality in the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will remain committed to the peace process and work with various stakeholders in Mindanao.” (Mindanao Examiner. With a report from The Manila Times.)


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MILF forces clash with BIFF in Mindanao

COTABATO CITY – Heavy fighting erupted between two rival rebel groups in the restive Muslim province of Maguindanao in southern Philippines where pro-ISIS militants are actively operating.

The 6^th Infantry Division on Friday has confirmed the clashes between Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and said the ferocious fighting lasted 6 hours.

It said one BIFF member, Saudi Sabang, was killed in clashes which occurred Thursday in Pimbalakan village in Mamasapano town. “After six hours of exchanging of fires, the BIFF members withdrew towards Shariff Saydona Mustapha town in Maguindanao using motorized pump boat while others traversed by foot,” the army said, adding, there was no report of MILF casualties.

It was unclear what triggered the fighting, but both rebel groups are actively operating in the province. There was no immediate statement from the MILF, which signed an interim peace deal with the Aquino administration in 2014.

But Major General Cirilito Sobejana, the army division commander, said the “MILF leadership is determined to eradicate the peace spoilers and to defeat the threat group from doing terroristic activities in Central Mindanao.”

Sobejana said the continued support and cooperation of the MILF and the community will hasten and complement the ability of the Joint Task Force Central to counter the efforts of the radical extremist groups in sowing fear and violence in the region.

The BIFF, whose members were former MILF rebels, pledged allegiance to ISIS and is fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner)

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